[EAS] NWS Impact Based Warnings

[Barry Mishkind]

At 10:48 AM 2/7/2013, Adrienne Abbott Gutierrez wrote:
>We still haven't found the
>right combination of technology and language to convey timely and accurate
>warning information that will move people who are in denial to action.

        Actually, we had found it, we used it, and were well
        regarded for doing so. Then automation hit. News
        staffs were cut, then eliminated. The few staffers
        still around cared only about the next "hit" record.
        Then Full Automation took over and we now have
        clusters with studios in a line - all uninhabited.

        Most broadcasters, in the name of profit, have shot themselves
        in the foot. The few who continue to look at an EAS
        activation as the doorbell to gather information and
        put it on their have the respect of their listeners.

        Those who merely leave the system on automatic
        all day long ... and either broadcast the "flood" of
        messages or none at all. They are the ones that
        make the process harder.

        And then we have cable news with their 
        "wicked weather" and "Storm of the century" and
        "Stormopolypse" style horrid gossip - I won't
        even call it reporting - which make the process almost
        impossible. Look at the garbage predictions for
        the NE today... snow is going to cover the
        tallest buildings, if you believe them.

        Unless and until broadcast companies - as an 
        industry - return to the concept of "Public Service"
        even when it reduces their profits by 2% we will
        see continued erosion of the value and
        effectiveness of the warning systems.

        Look how people were crowing today about that
        person who got the tornado warning on
        her cell phone and had no idea where it was.
        She stopped. But how many others drove right
        into the storm, because the best that broadcasters
        can do is "... the northeast corner of Miller County"?

        FIPS was outdated in 1997. CMAS Country alerts
        are already shown to be all but outdated and useless, 
        especially in the West. There is technology to do better.
        Cell phones can be programmed closer in. Broadcasters
        can stop being idiots and either broadcasting warnings
        for huge coverage areas without specificity or run
        automated and be less than useless.

        There are too many "kingdoms" within the emergency
        management community. A few areas "get it" and
        cooperate ... far too many more still think reverse 911
        is the answer.

        Broadcast could become an immediate solution. But
        the reality is that few broadcasters really care, aside
        from voicing frustration at the current - broken - system.

        PS ... and don't forget the analysis of the National EAS
        Test, currently slated for publication ... oh, sorry ... 
        we have no idea when that will be.